The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority denied a request Friday that it ban the word "Redskins" from signs, public address systems and other areas at the Metrodome when Washington plays the Vikings there next month.

Members of the authority were advised by their attorney at a meeting Friday morning that allowing use of that word would not constitute discrimination in the provision of public accommodations and that to forbid it likely would infringe on free-speech rights.

Advocates with the American Indian Movement and National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media met with authority officials Thursday and reiterated their request at the Friday meeting arguing the term Redskins is racist and illegal.

The advocates sent a manifesto to the authority and other media, sports and governmental entities last week to urge ending use of the name and threatening legal action if its use continues.

"We're pleading with you," AIM national director Clyde Bellecourt said to members of the authority Friday before they took up the issue.

After hearing from their attorney, authority members declined to make a motion to change their practice regarding the name, which effectively maintains the status quo.

Advocates for the name-change are planning a rally outside the Metrodome on the day of the game, Nov. 7, and authority chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen said the authority will provide a public-address system for those who want to speak on the issue.

Advertisement

Officials for Oneida Indians, an upstate New York tribe that opposes the Redskins nickname as a slur, will meet with NFL officials next week, according to the Associated Press.

In other stadium news, the authority expects to receive the guaranteed maximum price for construction of the new stadium next week from construction manager Mortenson Construction.

Kelm-Helgen said preliminary bids are coming in high, but she denied a report from Sports Business Daily that costs had risen $45 million above the $738 million construction budget. "That figure is way higher than anything we're looking at," she said.

The overall cost of the new stadium project is $975 million.

Vikings vice president of public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley didn't confirm or deny the $45 million overage but said "the numbers are moving and they're evolving."

The $738 million construction budget was part of the use and development agreements approved by the authority Oct. 3, Bagley said, and "it is true that after that meeting, the numbers did change."

He said there already is pressure on the budget when there's $975 million available to build a fixed-roof stadium at a time when open-air stadiums in New York and San Francisco are being built for a third to a half again as much.

He said the team is working with Mortenson and the stadium architect -- along with other construction and building experts -- to review the numbers and bring the project in on budget.

The Vikings have advanced a contingency amount of $13.1 million on top of their $477 million stadium contribution to lock in amenities such as HD scoreboards in both end zones, television monitors in the concourses, and WiFi and cellular service.

The stadium will be built on the site of the Metrodome and is expected to open in time for the 2016 season.

Doug Belden can be reached at 651-228-5136. Follow him at twitter.com/ dbeldenpipress.